Finger chops

Ha ha I made this meme today. I've been sitting in my room watching Netflix (well, TV essentially) and practicing the guitar since I've got home. ..I did a load a laundry and did the dishes but other than that. I really should've studied more than I did in the breakroom today.

I also made some delicious peanut butter cookies. I've never made them before. Right now they're sitting in the freezer hidden in a vegetable bag.

Today I worked. Work was bland, boring. It's sort of funny, everyone thinks I'm so serious because I don't laugh at their jokes. I'm not serious at all, I'm just very professional in my job and don't like to risk having problems with people. I just like to do my job and go home. Jay gives me a lot of shit but just to joke around. I really get the feeling that Jodi doesn't like me, but sort of puts up with me. It doesn't matter anyway, I'll just continue to try not to get on anyone's bad side. Being quiet and smiling at people is always the best policy in retail. People can't get mad at you for things that THEY say themselves.

I caught up with Robert and Dale last night, that was intense. I haven't talked to them in ages, since I was 16 at least. They seemed very happy to hear from me, but they're very depressing to talk too. One of the first things Robert said to me was that he wishes he was seventeen again. He deals with the loss of my Grandpa by saying he was always on drugs but at the same time clearly deeply misses him. My grandma takes care of Robert and Dale for the most part, as my Grandpa did at one time.

Tomorrow I've got guitar lessons. This has been a good week, I certainly practiced a lot. The only day that I didn't meet my quota was the 26th, and did 2 hours 40 minutes instead of 3. This is intense, I'm pretty proud of the amount of practice I'm putting in. I still don't feel like I've got much to show for the practice though, song wise. I've got a few under my belt, but it still needs work. Learning songs by System of a Down had to be put on hold because I needed to break away from the weird tunings.

It's almost like, my fingers are now almost fully trained to do the work that I want to do. Jacob called them "chops," though I thought the wording was weird because "chops" makes me think of singing range. It's true though, I need "Chops" in my fingers to have the ability to pick at difficult speeds, make different stretches, etc... I feel like I could learn a very wide variety of songs now. It's just a matter of picking the songs, getting the right tabs, and having the patience to learn something new even if it's not ideal.

Because of course before learning a song was a huge committment because it would take hours and hours to even make a tiny bit of progress on it. Now that I've improved somewhat it's easier to pick up new tabs and some easier songs I can get the hang of in an hour or two. Unless they're songs with chords, those are a challenge for me because it requires some amount of your OWN rhythm versus copying the song exactly.

My art has always been copying, from my drawing and now with music. I hope that I get good enough at guitar to sort of experiment with my own stuff. I remember even when I got really good at the trumpet I was never able to solo or anything like that because I was never able to let go with it. If I keep working at this though maybe it'll be better.

My manicure has already been chipping off all over. That's okay, I got sick of the red quickly. I should of gotten a pastel color but I was really out of it that day. My sister has a tendency to emotionally drain me, especially when I'm trying to just have a good time hanging out with her and she's ragging on me about every damn little thing. "OH Emily don't leave those leftovers in here, it'll STINK my car up!" ...Anal, much?

Gonna get going, going to work out for a little while, probably play some more, study some flashcards... do what I have to do to get set up for the week ahead. Tomorrow is my favorite day of the week, and then Thursday I get paid. Just not looking forward to working again all weekend.

peace.